Friday December 8 was the renaming ceremony of the Palm Desert VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC). Rep. Raul Ruiz introduced legislation in Congress to rename the medical center after World War II Army veteran Seymour “Sy” Kaplan.

Kaplan received two Purple Hearts in combat. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law last December. Kaplan was the Commander of the Coachella Valley Disabled American Veterans (DAV) for many years.

He died in 2019 at age 95. Rep. Ruiz prayed on his knees at the side of e Kaplan’s hospital bed the day before he died. Rep. Ruiz said Kaplan “championed to create” the Palm Desert VA CBOC in 1998.

Post Founder and Commander Tom Swann Hernandez and Post Adjutant Randy Schecher-Bowers attended the ceremony. After the ceremony we met with Evan Young, assistant director of the VA Hospital. If you recall earlier this year Dr. Michae Ing at the VA Hospital in Loma Linda told our Post that the only veterans that could do their lab work at the Palm Desert CBOC were veterans whose primary care doctor was at Palm Desert. Dr. Ing asked us to work on this issue on behalf of about 300 veterans living with HIV whose primary care doctor is at Loma Linda. We contacted both Rep. Raul Ruiz and Rep. Ken Calvert. Calvert’s staff spoke to the VA Hospital Director and the VA changed their policy so that any veteran can now do their lab work in Palm Desert. This benefits a few thousand veterans. Our Post has not received the credit we deserve for spearheading this issue.